One Reason Why Cocoa Is Good For You

We've heard about a jillion times that dark chocolate is good for you, but new research being unveiled this week at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society may help shed light on the reason why.

A research team spearheaded by Maria Moore, an undergraduate student at Louisiana State University, created a model of the human digestive process using stomach and intestinal enzymes, and sent through three types of cocoa powder (an ingredient in chocolate), paying careful attention to the way the components of cocoa powder were broken down by gut bacteria.

Among the results: The small amount of fiber in cocoa powder is broken down into short chain fatty acids, which are beneficial to colon health, study author John W. Finley, Ph.D., a professor of food science, and the Director of Food Innovation at Louisiana State University, told SELF.

But even more interesting was what happened to the polyphenols in the cocoa. “These very complex, large molecules are broken down in the gut into intermediate-sized molecules, and then further broken down to small molecules that are readily absorbed,” Finley says. “In previous studies, we’ve found that these materials help prevent inflammation in cardiovascular tissue. So the bottom line here is we’ve kind of explained one pathway by which cocoa is probably protective against cardiovascular inflammatory diseases.”

In other words, when the bacteria in your stomach churn up the cocoa powder and ferment it, they turn components of it into anti-inflammatory compounds that may benefit your heart. Cool, right?

Now, it’s important to note that this research was done on cocoa powder and not dark chocolate — we’ve seen a lot of other research about how dark chocolate is good for you, but Finley, Moore and their team looked only at cocoa powder, which is one ingredient in dark chocolate. But that doesn’t mean you can’t apply their results to your daily life. In fact, we’re kind of obsessed with the way Finley says he adds cocoa powder to his diet:

“I put it on my oatmeal in the morning with strawberries,” Finley says.